Data visualization applications enable a user to understand a data set visually, including distribution, trends, outliers, and other factors that are important to making business decisions. Some data sets are very large or complex, and sometimes unique formulas are needed to identify the structure.
Users often create calculations to experiment or break down parts of existing formulas to see how different portions of formulas act. Being able to quickly create custom calculations facilitates the exploration process. Some data visualization applications provide for custom calculations, but impose a rigid process that requires pre-creating and naming each calculation before it can be used. This is a slow and inefficient process, and the temporary calculations create unnecessary clutter.